pleurisy of the lungs Archives | Natural Health with Merrilyn Hope

Home Made Eucalyptus Oil For Chest Troubles, Colds Or Sore Joints

Natural Remedies

Eucalyptus Oil, which is a wonderful herbal remedy for colds and flu, coughs, sore chests and sore joints, used to be a stand-by in the medicine chests of yesteryear.

Eucalyptus oil, which is made from the Australian Gum tree, is beneficial to the lungs and the circulation of the blood when it is massaged into the affected areas. Rheumatism and arthritic joints, as well as varicose veins, can benefit greatly from a gentle massage of warmed Eucalyptus and Olive Oil.

But now the herbal eucalyptus oil has been sadly removed from the pharmacy shelves, along with many other very useful and comparatively harmless remedies we used for a myriad of afflictions.

The reason for the removal of Eucalyptus from the shop shelves is, I am sure, because home remedies are being discouraged by the pharmaceutical companies. Every time we use a home remedy instead of going to the doctor to get a prescription for some drug or another, both the doctor, and the pharmaceutical company whose drug he/she would have chosen, lose out on a sum of money.

So – now we have been denied access to eucalyptus oil from the health or chemist shops, we must make our own.

Here is a very simple procedure for the making of a home-made eucalyptus oil. It is not anywhere near as strong as the beautiful tincture of Australian eucalyptus oil which many of us used to use for colds and flu, pleurisy of the lungs, or for rubbing on arthritic joints. But you will find the effect of this home-made oil almost as good.

Here is how you make it, in only 10 minutes.

I keep a young gum tree in a pot for the purpose of using it medicinally. Pick about four or five nice young leaves off your gum or eucalyptus tree.

Cut up the leaves with scissors, using the stalky bits of the leaves as well.

Put the cut leaves into a small iron saucepan and cover them with olive oil. About half a cup of olive oil should suffice.

Put the pot onto the stove and heat up the oil and eucalyptus leaves. Use a moderately hot plate for this, and take care not to burn your olive oil.

When the oil is almost simmering, turn the stove off, but leave the saucepan on the hot plate so that the leaves can marinate in the hot oil for a while.

After around ten minutes, the oil will be cooled enough, and ready to use. Spoon off a tablespoonful or as much as is needed for immediate use.

This eucalyptus oil is very soothing for a sore, congested chest. Rub it into the ribs at the side and cover the chest area in the front. Massage the oil into the collar bone area as well. Then do the back of the chest.

I find that I need to wash off most of the oil after twenty minutes or so. After that time, the eucalyptus oil seems too intense for comfort. But twenty minutes is enough time for the active ingredients in the combination of olive oil and eucalyptus to have a favourable effect on the lungs, as well as a tonic effect on the circulation.

Homeopathic and Herbal Remedies For Sunstroke

Natural Remedies For Sunstroke and Pleurisy:

New Zealand Heatwave Before Christmas 2012 Caused Sunstroke. This post gives an account of the homeopathic treatments I used.

Note: If you have sunstroke, you should certainly go to a doctor or alternative health practitioner. But this is how it all happened, and what I did to remedy the problem of sunstroke with subsequent pleurisy of the lungs:

I have had sunstroke twice before in my life, many years ago now. I never expected to experience it ever again, since I have taken to wearing a hat most days when I am in the sun, and I am cautious about getting too much exposure. My health certainly benefits from getting into the sun for short periods.

But just a few days before Christmas, we had a heat-wave in the little town which I have just moved to. This town is around 130 ks inland, and around the same distance south of Auckland. I moved here only two months ago.

Being new to the place, I guess I was caught unawares as to the dangers of the sun, which is much more intense here than the heat you get at a seaside resort such as Orewa, from whence I came.

The day I left to go on my journey to Dunedin to see my family for Christmas, I mucked around in the garden for an hour or so, watering my plants well so that they would survive the week ahead without me. I had on a cap, but the sun got the back of my neck, which is the most vulnerable spot for getting sunstroke. Then I walked down to the town around 2PM to get a $2.40 Lotto ticket. By this time the heat was incredibly intense, reminding me of the days we had heat waves at Kilkivan, an inland town in the middle of Queensland, when the temperatures would soar well beyond 40 degrees.

I hurried home when I realized how hot it was, and how it was making me feel ill already.

The next day, when I arrived in Dunedin, the effects of the sun the previous day were hitting very hard. My children thought I had jet-lag. But it was only around 3% jet-lag. I felt dizzy. I was losing my balance and seeing stars when I looked up. My temperature was extremely hot, especially around the head, I had an intense headache and I felt nauseous. My head was throbbing madly and I was experiencing some pain at the nape of the neck, stretching upwards on the right side of the scalp.

I hoped I would not have to go to the doctor or to the hospital. I had left my community services card at home, so a trip to the doctor would be expensive. Plus I preferred to avoid their pharmaceuticals if I could help it.

The only thing to do was to rest and get stuck into the homeopathic remedy which I chose out of my daughter’s collection, and to drink plenty of water.

Cooling the head by covering it with wet cotton cloths was the next thing. Putting a wet band around so that the temples are covered, and another at the nape of the neck, is very helpful.

Homeopathic Remedy For High Temperature In First Stage Of Sunstroke: Aconite and Belladonna

The first day, when my hot head, chronic headache, and the accompanying dizziness and pain were the most worrying symptoms, I used a homeopathic combination called ‘Fevamed Relief’, which had Aconite 24x and Belladonna 30c in it. These two are great for complaints which appear suddenly: Aconite is always good when the symptoms suddenly appear, usually due to a chill or getting damp in a shower; Belladonna is another one for when symptoms come on suddenly, but with the patient having a bright red face because of fever or high temperature. This ‘Fevamed Relief’ mixture also had Arsenicum alb 60x and Echinacea 24x in it.

This preparation was one specially designed for the feverish symptoms of babies and small children, but I found it to be equally effective in allaying the sunstroke symptoms which I was experiencing.

If I had been at home, I would have used either Aconite or Belladonna on its own, or alternated the remedies, as I do not usually buy these combination remedies. This was a ‘Naturopharm’ remedy, whereas I always buy Weleda homeopathics.

I took two or three squirts of this Aconite/Belladonna combination every 20 minutes or so for the first couple of hours. Then I panned out the dose to one every hour.

I could feel an instant effect as soon as I took the remedy, although it took all that first day for the temperature to drop to near normal.

Pleurisy of the Lung Followed the Sunstroke: Homeopathic Bryonia came to the fore.

The next day I found that the pulsating head, with accompanying headache, had gone. But now there was intense pain in the right side of the chest and in the back on the right side, which was probably pleurisy of the lungs. Bronchial problems can often come after over-exposure to the sun. The peculiar thing was that it was a right-sided chest complaint, whereas in the past I have always had left-sided chest complaints.

Breathing was painful, and my chest hurt when I moved the torso around to get up off a chair or out of bed. I could hardly move. It was possible that the Aconite/Belladonna preparation might have helped the bronchial problem too, but I felt as if this remedy had run its course and that no more help would be gained from continuing it.

I decided to switch the treatment to a homeopathic specific for bronchial troubles. My daughter had a combination which had Bryonia 24x in it, so I beamed in on this one. Bryonia is excellent for lung problems. This remedy also had Colocynthis 30c, Carbo veg 24x, and Mag phos 60x in it. This combination was called ‘Colimed Relief’, another Naturopharm baby remedy. But again, it worked well for an adult too.

I took this remedy for two days, using around 10 doses of several squirts each the first day, and reducing to around 6 doses of several squirts the second day. On the second day of taking this Bryonia remedy, I coughed for around an hour, which brought up most of the fluid from the lungs. By the end of that 2nd day, the chest and back pain was completely gone, and breathing had returned to normal.

This all saved an expensive visit to the doctor or to the hospital. However, sunstroke can be dangerous, so I would urge you to see your doctor if you have these symptoms. Try the homeopathic remedies only after you have visited the doctor, just to be safe.

Herbal Remedies for Sunburn:

A stong tea allowed to cool, of either Chamomilla recutita flowers, or Elderflower (Sambucus nigra), or Lavender officinalis, can be used to bathe the sunburn. These herbs can be mixed together to make the infusion if you wish.

St John’s Wort is supposed to be a wonderful healer for radiation burns of all kinds. Use just a few drops of the blood-red oil on the affected parts.

Aloe vera, something which many people have in their gardens or flower-pots, is also very soothing and cooling. Just slice open a leaf and squeeze out the gell to apply directly to the burnt area.

Homeopathic Hypericum or Calendula creams are useful to soothe and help the healing of the skin. Homeopathic Cantharis is another which can be applied topically to reduce the sting of sunburn. Homeopathic Cantharis in liquid form is possibly another alternative to Aconite, Belladonna, Bryonia, etc, for taking internally to treat sunstroke symptoms. Personally, I have not ever tried this remedy.

Dr John H. Clarke, M.D., in treating sunstroke, lists most of the remedies which I found on those two baby homeopathic preparations of my daughter’s: Aconite, Belladonna and Arsen alb. These ones, which I found to be very effective, are some of the first remedies for sunstroke which he gives in his book ‘The Prescriber’.

I found ordinary ceylon tea good to drink during this period: Tea actually helps bring down the temperature, which is why it is so frequently drunk in India.

Over the first couple of days after getting the sunstroke, I also found that putting a cold wet facecloth over the forehead and on the nape of the neck helped.

Homeopathic Remedies For Pleurisy As Recommended By Dr John Clarke, MD.

Get Professional Advice For That Lung Problem:

Hi Devanshu. Thankyou for your question on Homeopathic Remedies for Pleurisy. I would urge you to take your wife to see a health professional immediately.

You might like to look up my latest post entitled Homeopathic and Herbel Remedies For Sunstroke to see how I tackled the problem of pleurisy which followed the sunstroke. But do see a doctor.

General Advice For People: You need to promptly visit your health professonal if you have a lung condition, or any inflammation or infection in the lungs. Consult with your Homeopath, Naturopath, Ayurvedic practitioner, Chinese Herbalist, or Doctor for a professional opinion on your condition, and whether or not Homeopathic remedies can be safely used at your stage of an illness. Homeopathic remedies do work, but it is not a good idea to begin your homeopathic experimentations on such serious diseases as pleurisy. If there is an emergency, it is very often a good idea to take an antibiotic rather than meddle with homeopathic remedies, unless you have the guidance of someone experienced in the science of Homeopathy, who is likely to prescribe exactly the right remedy to reverse the condition.

Homeopathic Doctor John Clarke wrote a wonderful little hand-book of natural remedies, entitled ‘The Prescriber’. This was first published in the 1950’s, and was reprinted in 1991.

‘The Prescriber’ is a valuable text-book for people who wish to learn to treat illness with homeopathic remedies. It tells exactly what remedy to use for each stage of an illness, and for what particular symptoms, and how often the dose. I recommend that you try to obtain this book if you want to become skilled in using homeopathy.

Dr John Clarke recommends a range of remedies for the treatment of Pleurisy of the lungs. Only one remedy would be chosen at a time, to treat specific symptoms which accompany the pleurisy. You would need to get advice from your Homeopath on which of these remedies would most suit your condition, or the condition of the person you are trying to help.

These remedies are: Aconite, Sulphur, Cantharis, Bryonia, Hapar sulph, Belladonna, Arsen alb, Apis, and Asclepias tuberosa.

Aconite 3, 1h. can be used at the beginning of the pleurisy, when there is heat, restlessness and anxiety, but ‘before effusion has occurred’.

Sulph. 3, 1h can be used after the effusions have occurred, and when there are sharp pains which make all movement very painful.

Cantharis 3, 1h can be used when there is not much fever, but with fluid effusions.

Bryonia 2, 1h is good for the violent pains in the side of the ribs, and when there is excessive effusion and fever. Bryonia is recommended when the pain is worse from the slightest movement. Bryonia is often characterized by the pain being lessened when lying on the painful side. If the pain gets better from lying on the sore side, then Bryonia is often a good remedy to use. Personally, I have used Bryonia many times for distressing lung conditions. It is a great remedy for helping to dry up mucous, or effusions.

Belladonna 3, 1h can be used when the pain becomes worse for lying on the sore side, ahd when there is a high fever with a very flushed face.

Sulphur 3x-30 can be used for persistent effusion.

Hepar sulph 6, 4h when the condition has become chronic, with the formation of pus.

Dr Clarke recommends tapping of the lungs when the fluid is excessive, When the patient has not improved at all from treatment, and there is a ‘danger of fainting’ and of ‘threatening asphyxia’, then your doctor may have to tap the fluid from the lungs. Sometimes people need this treatment even when they do not respond to antibiotics.

After the acute stage, Dr Clarke suggests Ars alb 3, 4h, if the fluid is slow to be absorbed. Apis 3x, 2h is another remedy which can help to dry up the fluid near the end of the illness.

Asclepias tuberosa o is a very good and useful general remedy for Pleurisy according to Dr John Clarke. The dose he recommends is 15 drops in a little water, taken every hour until improvement is noted.

An Onion Poultice Is A Powerful Natural Remedy for Treating Lung Conditions: I have used this remedy successfully on many occasions. It can be used in conjunction with the appropriate homeopathic remedy.

You cut up one whole onion, skin and all. Cover the onion with water, and simmer for 20 minutes or so. Even the fumes of this concoction will help congested lungs. After the onion has simmered for 20 minutes, allow to cool so that the mixture is still hot, but comfortable to the touch. Then soak a clean, dry tea-towel in the onion concoction. Wring out and place over the chest while still hot. Put over a plastic sheet to protect clothing and bedding, and cover again with womething warm, such as a piece of woollen flannel.

Put a hot water bottle over all of the coverings, pull up the blankets, and prepare to sweat out the congestion in the lungs. You can heat up the onion water again in an hour, to reapply a fresh hot poultice. Leaving the poultice on the chest increases the sweating, which decreases the infection. Even when the poultice has cooled down, it will still have the effect of encouraging sweating.

But do none of this without visiting your doctor or homeopath or health professional first.

Merrilyn’s book is available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.ca/Cancer-And-Good-Health-Notebook-ebook/dp/B01DHMH6DG